The Hurd

GNU’s Hurd kernel is shaping up. It may never have much of a role on the desktop because Linux has such a lead and wide acceptance but, on servers, there is little to keep Hurd out. Virtual machines usually offer only a few virtual devices after all so Hurd does not need a lot of drivers to run in one. Many servers are virtual these days so Hurd might fly there. Real NICs are cheap and plentiful, too. A real server could just change NICs if need be. Hurd has glue-code to allow use of drivers from Linux. Depending on how well that works, Hurd may run nicely. If Debian is interested in it Hurd must be at least stomping its hooves.

GNU Hurd is in Debian Wheezy now and may be released in Debian GNU/Linux in the next year or so.

I wonder if Debian GNU/Linux will have to become Debian GNU/* ? 😉

About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.

4 Responses to The Hurd

bilbophile The difference between hurd and all the BSD and Linux kernels is that Hurd is microkernel.

Also due to Hurd design is been on many times of evil to work on. Reason a driver fails it restart the driver. So you can end up with nice cascading failures masking where the failure really started.

Yes Hurd if it works is one of the strongest OS for keeping on going. The problem is that is its biggest down fall as well. Yes I know this is kinda a sin to say. Sometimes it better for the OS to die.

Cost of being designed microkernel is a performance price.

There is another more stable microkernel open source out there. Minux yes the one that you hear about Linus and its lead developer going head to head over Microkernel or Monolithic what one is better.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. Now that I'm retired I still use GNU/Linux on every computer in my home except the smartphones which run Android/Linux.

Lately, I've been giving lots of thought to the world I inherited and which I will leave to my descendants. I'm planting grass, trees, flowers and vegetables in my large lot and I've ordered a Solo EV. I plan to charge my Solo by means of a tracking solar array. Life is good if you have a purpose. I do.